Perhaps it is nothing more than a convenient coincidence that both Los Angeles and Bangkok are referred to by their inhabitants as the City of Angels. But this curious fact makes a nice hook for a film series, and the crafty programmers of the UCLA Film and Television Archive are making good use of it, tying an odd assortment of good-to-terrific movies into an appealing "thematic" package.

Three films nominated by Asian countries dominated the academy's foreign-language category Wednesday, and none of them would have been eligible for consideration had the organization not decided to bend its new guidelines this year. One of the nominees--Taiwan's "The Wedding Banquet"--was shot in New York by a New York director and crew. Vietnam's "The Scent of Green Papaya" was filmed on a French sound stage.

A record 54 countries have submitted entries for Oscar consideration in the foreign-language film category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday. Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Chad submitted films for the first time. Some films, such as Mexico's "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" and France's "8 Women," have already been released in the United States. But most of the films have not been seen by U.S. audiences, and it is not necessary that they receive U.S.

Hustling for shoes to shine in Rio de Janeiro's airport two years ago, Vinicius de Oliveira approached a man in white tennis shoes. The man noticed him too--but not because he wanted his shoes polished. The man was film director Walter Salles and he saw something in the boy with long, thick, black eyelashes and light brown eyes that moved him. After auditioning nearly 2,000 boys for the role of Josue for his film "Central Station," Salles was drawn in by De Oliveira's authenticity and spunkiness.

A young couple take home an elderly man without a memory in the Italian "Facing Windows." A French woman mistakes a financial advisor for a therapist and begins pouring out her heart in "Intimate Strangers." A martial arts hero must decide whether killing a tyrant is the right thing to do in the Chinese epic "Hero." Fear not, serious moviegoers.

Within the last five years a handful of little-known advertising industry figures in Thailand have switched hats and transformed their nation's moribund, derivative and teen-obsessed film industry into an archly inventive, adult-oriented showcase for a promising new wave in Asian cinema. "Bangkok Dangerous," one of the most sensuous and disturbing films of this sharp new wave, hits L.A. theaters this week.

From depictions of Mexico's colonial days, to modern-day struggles in contemporary Cuba to the quaint lives of youngsters in Catalonia, the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Latin cinema will be on display this week. For the first time in its 13-year history, the American Film Institute will feature what it hopes will be an annual Latin Cinema series during its international film festival, which starts today.

Let's say you're Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou ("Raise the Red Lantern," "Ju Dou") making a rare visit to Manhattan because your new film, "The Story of Qiu Ju," is at the New York Film Festival. Do you make sure to check out the competition? See as many festival films as you can? Take the pulse of the international film world? No, you go see "Unforgiven." "When I heard there was a Western playing," Zhang said through his interpreter, "I had to go immediately."

Belma crossed a minefield and dodged snipers' artillery in her flight from Bosnia's battlegrounds. But the war intruded on her Danish refuge, and the teenager watched in anguish as her father was arrested for the brutal beating of an accused war criminal. Emina left her Bosnian village to study in Sarajevo and was unable to join her family when they fled to Denmark after her father was released by Bosnian Serb captors. It was years before they were reunited. One is a movie. One is real life.